Road Trip, a few of the people I met

Several years ago, I was looking at some random blogs (something I haven't done in a long time) and ran across one that was written by a fellow air traffic controller. I started following his blog and found out that he is also a minister!

He was active in his NATCA (our controller's union) local (Boston Tower) and I had also been pretty active in NATCA. It turns out that Tom (TC) and I have been to several NATCA events, but never met each other. After retiring, Tom returned to full time ministry and now pastors the oldest Congregational church in the US. It was founded in 1623!
We have been friends on Faecbook and he has been one of several NATCA people that I was looking forward to meeting.

We did!
I managed to make it to Boston in time to experience the afternoon rush hour.
OH JOY!
When I left Steve's place in Vermont it was 56 degrees (13.3C) so I opted for a light shirt and left the lining in my jacket. By the time I reached Boston, the temp was mid 80s (30C) and I was regretting the lining -- especially with traffic moving slowly or not at all.

Imagine for yourself:
It's almost 90 degrees (32C)
You're in a long tunnel filled with cars and trucks adding engine exhaust to the heat of the day
You're wearing a lined motorcycle jacket, heavy denim jeans, and a helmet
You're sitting on a hot running engine
And YOU'RE NOT MOVING!

It was pretty brutal.

But I made my way to Weymouth on Boston's south side and met up with TC at his church office.
He took me out for a wonderful dinner of pan seared scallops and lobster risotto. We visited like old friends and it didn't feel at all like this was our first time to sit down and visit over a meal. He took me back to the church where I reloaded the bike and made my way on down the road another hour or so before stopping for the night.

The following day I was on the road to meet with yet another long time blogging friend in the DC area of northern Virginia. Bill has met a number of his blogging friends and added me to his growing list. I don't have as many followers and have cut down on the number of blogs I follow, but I have managed to meet a few of you and would love to meet more.
I met Bill at a little diner at the Springfield Mall -- Springfield VA, that is.

One might think that two guys that met for the first time would have a difficult time with conversation, but that just wasn't the case. It was an enjoyable respite from the road, especially when you consider that I also managed to hit DC for the evening traffic!

We managed to get our waiter to take the picture and it turned out much better than if I would have attempted another selfie shot.

Then it was back into traffic for another hour or so to move a little further down the road.

I'll post more from the road trip tomorrow. If you're a reader and want to meet, let me know. I'm sure that there is a highway that connects us and a future road trip to be planned.
(And if there is a major or minor league baseball team nearby the odds of a visit increase dramatically!)

John <><